What Your New Pick-Up Truck Really Means for Us

Your next vehicle is going to be a 4-door, Big Horn Dream Cab Ford RAM pick-up truck, or so you tell me.

I'm jealous; not so much of the vehicle, though I do find trucks to be sexy, but of the fact that the next family car gets to be yours. Except, I guess we wouldn't call this a family vehicle anymore.

My last car and the current one is the kid-transporter, and these days I'm rocking a minivan. Bucket seats, car seats, toys, notebooks, trash, food crumbs, diapers (clean ones, thank God) and the smell of vomit mixed with pee make my car pure joy to travel in; for the kids that is.

Trucks are so manly (and yes, I realize I have likely pissed a lot of women off with that comment) and I am excited to see you in yours. Yet, there is a bit of melancholy that I anticipate feeling the first time we take your new hunk-mobile out on date night.

You see, what your new pick-up truck means for us is that our children are growing up, and you and I are growing older.

There is something about a car filled with kid “stuff” that makes me smile. It lets me know there is life, love, learning and yes, eating and playing and spilling happening inside of it.

There is something about random hair ties, pencils, marker caps, single socks, and fruit snack wrappers that puts a smile on my face.

There is something about the overplayed, scratched Daniel Tiger DVD on the car floor mat that makes me want to sing about what a “beautiful day in the neighborhood” it is.

There is something about our daughter's ballet shoes squished in between the seats that reminds me how hard she has worked to get better at something she enjoys so much.

There is something about our son's rusted pirate sword and cracked magnifying glass that prompts me to recall all of the times we played pirates and animal seekers.

There is something about locating missing pacifiers under the vehicle's third row and in the trunk that brings to mind the darn good throwing arm our little one had as a baby.

There is something about a car that doesn't smell new (wait, there's nothing about vomit/poop/curdled milk smell that's awesome) — scratch that.

But, you see what I am getting at, don't you?

Your new truck is undoubtedly going to be enjoyable to ride in. It will be clean, it will smell nice, and I won't have to sit in a seat covered in spoiled milk, but it is going to feel a bit strange for a while; that is until it doesn't anymore.

This is something that I am both dreading and looking forward to.

While it makes me a bit heartsick to think about my three babies not being quite so little anymore, I am also a bit intrigued about what this means for you and me.

It most definitely means that we are getting older, but it also signifies that we are getting older together and that we are still together andI find that to be damn impressive.

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Marriage on its own is challenging, and when you add multiple children to the mix, your relationship is tested to the max.

Coupling while parenting requires both partners to work on themselves as individuals, and with each other as a unit; all of which must be done while you are exhausted and under stress.

The fact that we have reached the point in our relationship where we are arriving at an actual truck dealership to get you that truck you've been pining for makes me proud.

You make me proud, our kids make me proud, and I'll just say it, I'm proud of myself, too.

Honey, what your new pick-up truck really means for us is that we are doing well — in our marriage, in the raising of our children, and at making our life what we need and want it to be — happy.

That is until, unbeknownst to you, our eighteen-year-old son takes your new truck for a joy ride with his boys and brings it back to you covered in mud and smelling like pizza and straight-up “boy”. Hopefully, you'll handle that situation in a way that I find impressive, and you better, if you want to keep getting older together.

What Your New Pick-Up Truck Really Means for Us

Nicole Merritt is a mother of three and the Owner and Founder of jthreeNMe, an imperfectly authentic peek at real-life marriage, parenting, and self-improvement. jthreeNMe is raw, honest, empowering, inspiring, and entertaining; it’s like chicken soup for those that are exhausted, over-stressed and under-inebriated, yet still utterly happy. Nicole's work has been featured by Scary Mommy, The Good Men Project, BLUNTmoms, CafeMom, Elephant Journal, Thought Catalog, Everyday Family, Motherly &amp ... More

EverydayFamily.com offers general information and is for educational purposes only. This information is not a substitute for professional medical, psychiatric or psychological advice. Nothing on this website should be taken to imply an endorsement of EverydayFamily.com or its partners by any person quoted or mentioned.

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